Strummin'on the ol' banjo

Sunday, October 01, 2006


	Frank Rossi leads the Pittsburgh Banjo Club during a Wednesday night rehearsal. Click photo for larger image

Story and photos by Alyssa Cwanger
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Eighteen years ago, Frank Rossi was sitting in his home in Ross, newly retired from a career as a New York-based air-traffic controller. While living on Long Island, he played the four-string banjo as a hobby. He wondered if anyone else in Pittsburgh shared his interest.


	Alyssa Cwanger, Post-Gazette Larry Binz of Cranberry rehearses with the club at the Allegheny Elks Lodge. Click photo for larger image. Multimedia Slideshow: An evening with the Pittsburgh Banjo Club: Join the crowd for a rehearsal as seen from the perspective of Frank Rossi, one of the founders of the club.

Rossi began sending out press releases and putting ads in the paper when he moved to Pittsburgh with his wife, Rita. A short time later, seven people showed up for the first official meeting of the Pittsburgh Banjo Club.

The group's goal is to preserve and encourage the four-string style of banjo playing, which relies on strumming for its unique sound, rather than the finger-picking style featured in bluegrass.

Word got out, and within a year a group of 15 started doing performances. The group has been meeting every Wednesday night for the past 18 years. It has grown to well over 100 players.

On a typical Wednesday night on Pittsburgh's North Side, retired lawyers, business owners, postal workers, a psychiatrist and even a neurosurgeon carry their banjos into the Allegheny Elks Lodge with big smiles on their faces.

Occasionally, a professor will walk in late. He is excused, though; he has to finish teaching a class before gathering his music, opening his banjo case and pulling up a chair on stage for an evening rehearsal.

Rossi, 71, leads the group during the second half of rehearsal, in which the group works on songs they plan to perform in the near future.

"It's a happy atmosphere. It's happy music," Mr. Rossi said. "It lets people enjoy themselves and forget about the stress of everyday life. It's a family affair, a real fraternity."

The club rehearses in front of a live audience from 8 to 11 p.m. and doesn't dwell long on any one song. A mistake elicits laughter from the crowd. They just come to have a good time.

The repertoire focuses on popular songs from the 1920s and '30s, the heyday for four-string banjo. The audience may be treated to Al Jolson medleys, polkas, fox trots, patriotic George M. Cohan tunes, military songs and college fight songs.


Alyssa Cwanger, Post-Gazette Founder Frank Rossi, right, watches as Nico, 7, and Enzo, 5, Chiodi finish singing at a rehearsal of the Pittsburgh Banjo Club. Click photo for larger image.

Before the evening is over, the audience will be singing along and dancing, too.

The band plays "whatever fits the occasion," Rossi said.

Featured soloists include men, women and even two elementary-school-age boys. The group on stage also features trumpet players, tuba players and a bass guitar, to add texture and round out the sound.

Rossi said the club attracts players with a wide range of talent and experience.

"You're dealing with a lot of different personalities and different musical abilities in the band," he said. "Some can read music, some can't. There are a lot of older people in the band. Some can't hear or see right, but you have to blend them all together so it meshes."

"We let everybody play, and it's successful," he added. If the band and audience members are happy, then he's done his job.

Rossi's success with the Pittsburgh Banjo Club was recognized five years ago when he was inducted into the National Four-String Banjo Hall of Fame in Guthrie, Okla.

He said there are about 80 banjo clubs like Pittsburgh's across the country. They work not only to preserve their style of banjo playing but also to raise money for charity, and public rehearsals are commonplace.

Rossi attributes the club's longevity to the music. "It's different. There's not a show like it here in Pittsburgh. It's not rock music. It's music that you don't hear anymore."